CHAPTERS 4 AND 5

Study Guide 4-5 (Chapters): US HISTORY




• Consequences of the French and Indian War:
o Expansion of British territory
o Enlarged Britain's debt
o Increased British resentment of Americans
• Angry that colonists made few efforts towards war
• War: waged mainly for Americans
o Increased control over colonies by British as a means to pay off war debt through taxing Americans=> Imperial control + British troops in colonies
• Stamp tax-What it was/why it was resented: Passed by prime minister George Grenville
o Imposed tax on every printed item in the Colonies: newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, deeds wills, + licenses
o Why it was resented: The tax fell on everyone and was a clear attempt by England raise revenue from the colonies without the consent of the colonial assemblies.
• Mutiny Acts: Passed by prime minister George Grenville
o Colonists had to help maintain the British army (housing, food, supplies, etc.)
• Causes of the Boston Massacre:
o Harassment of customs officials in Boston=> so bad that British govt. placed 4 regiments of troops in the city to protect the customs officials
o Poorly paid British troops began looking for jobs during their off hours=> competed w/ local workers which angered them
o Dockworkers (“liberty boys”) and others began throwing rocks/snowballs at troops in front of the customs house=> British soldiers killing 5
• Committees of Correspondence:
o Committee proposed by Samuel Adams after the Boston Massacre to publicize grievances against England
• Sam Adams:
o Leading figure in fomenting public outrage over the Boston Massacre
o Argued that England had become corrupt and only in America did public virtue survive
• John Dickinson:
o Leader of moderate Americans who wanted quick reconciliation w/ British and wrote the articles of confederation
• Coercive or Intolerable Acts: passed by Parliament in response to colonists stopping British tea from entering the colonies (Boston Tea Party)
o Closed the port of Boston=> reduced the powers of self-government in MA
o Permitted royal officers in America to be tried in England when accuse of crimes.
o Providing of quartering for troops by colonists
• Proclamation of 1763:
o After defeat of French in French and Indian War colonists began to move over mountains into tribal lands in the upper Ohio River valley.
• To avoid fighting the British govt. passed this act which forbade settlers to advance beyond the Appalachian mountains
• Battles of Lexington and Concord:
o 1st Continental Congress agreed to prepare colonists for war (among other decisions)
• MA people began to gather arms + prepare minutemen (citizen soldiers)
• General Thomas Gage (commanded British garrison) heard of supply in concord + ordered to arrest rebel leaders Sam Adams + John Hancock=> sent 1000 men to Lexington(where rebel leaders were) to surprise colonists + seize gunpowder (going to attack)
• William Dawes + Paul Revere warned colonists of British
• Colonists fought w/ British (British lost 3x as men as colonists)
• Colonists claimed British fired 1st shots=> aroused thousands of colonists to fight British
• Battle of Bennington:
o New England militiamen mauled a detachment of Burgoyne’s forces that were sent to seek supplies=> weakened Burgoyne
• Battle of Saratoga:
o General Horatio Gates surrounded Burgoyne’s forces and caused him to surrender=> major victory that eventually won the colonists French military support
• Bunker Hill(1775):
o After British withdrew from Lexington and Concord American forces besieged them in Boston
o Colonists forced to withdraw but inflicted greater casualties on the enemy=> British decide that Boston is a bad place to fight and withdraw
• Declaration of Independence-what it said:
o The Continental Congress in Philadelphia drafted the constitution to completely break away from England
o Stated: “That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved”
o The purpose of a government is to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
• Divide and Conquer-plan and reasons for it:
o British war strategy to divide America in 2: General Howe would move from N.Y. up the Hudson to Albany, while another force (general Burgoyne) would come down from Canada to meet him they would obtain new york cutting off the non-loyal new England colonies from the rest of america
o Howe abandoned his part of the plan and went south and captured Philadelphia in an attempt to bring the war to a speedy close
• General Johnny Burgoyne:
o British commander of Northern campaign who surrendered to Horatio Gates (1777)
• Why the British went South to fight:
o Believed that there were more loyalists there + slaves who British offered freedom to if they enlisted
o Overestimated loyalist pop.
• Townshend Acts:
o Passed by the Chancellor Charles Townshend
o Townshend Duties: taxes on imported goods from England; lead, paint, paper, and tea
o Established a board of customs to end smuggling in America leading to the boston massacre
o Disbanded the MA + NY assemblies until colonists would
• Peace of Paris:
o Treaty in 1763 that ended the French/Indian War
o France gives Britain all of its holdings in NA and some of its west indies islands and some other colonies it had
• Common Sense/Thomas Paine:
o Wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense that stated for Americans to break completely w/ a political system that could inflict such brutality on its own people was common sense, The problem was the British Constitution
o Sold more than 100,000 copies
o Helped build support the idea of independence in 1776
• Trenton/crossing of Delaware/results:
o George Washington crossed the Delaware river over to Trenton N.J. to surprise an outpost of Hessians
o Then he advanced to Princeton and dove a force of redcoats form their base in the college there
o These 2 minor victories redistilled confidence in the American army
• Slavery during the war:
o Britain enabled many slaves to become free: 1/3 of slaves defected during war (revolutionary war)
o Revolution: increased ideas about liberty
• Outlaw of slave trade in many states
• Manumission legal in all northern states
• All northern states abolished slavery


Boston Tea Party/ Protest why?
• Boycott the tea the east India company brought in
• The colonial merchants unjustly taxed
• Boston tea party
o 150 guys dress like Indians and go on ships- pour the tea into the water
o Taxation w/o representation
o People kept the tea from leaving the ships


Essays:

• 3 Point plan/divide and conquer/details/significance/Bennington and Saratoga battles:

1.) Burgoyne advances south to lake champlain and George to the Hudson river and then to Albany
2.) William howe would be there as he travled north on the Hudson to get there
3.) This would cut off the new England colonies from the rest of america
Howe backed out though—he wanted a speedy victory by attaining philidephia.
The bennington and Saratoga battles were so decisive and crucial because they were the determining factors on whether the englsih would make it to Albany—and they didn’t
They were both victorious, Bennington was where New England militiamen mauled a detachment of Burgoyne’s forces that were sent to seek supplies. And in Saratoga General Haratio Gates besieged Burgoyne.


• What the French and Indian war did to relationships of the English and the Colonies/must be specific to what they were before/during/after:
o Relationship before war:
• Some colonists considered themselves loyal English
o Relationship during the war:
• Poor relationship during the war because British commanders forcibly enlisted colonists
• British commanders took supplies from colonists + made them provide housing for the soldiers (mutiny act)
o Relationship after the war:
• Colonists anger towards policies + the 1758 return of authority to the colonial assemblies prove illegitimacy of British interference in local affairs
• Colonists very angry about new Imperial English government over Colonies due to the need for England to pay off its war debts
• Crazy Taxes eventually lead to the revolution